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Zangetsu (spirit)
Zangetsu (懺月 Repentance Moon) is the manifested spirit of the Zanpakutō owned by Dyan Arashi. Like all Zanpakutō, Zangetsu can be found within Dyan's Inner World, acting as his advisor and partner. Interestingly, Zangetsu is also influenced by Dyan's former Hollow powers which were relegated to his Fullbring, effectively making him partially Hollow Dyan (虚 (ホロウ) ぢおん, Horō Dyan), who was created when Dyan developed an Inner Hollow within his soul, a commonality among the Visored. However, as of now, Zangetsu ony refers to himself as "Zangetsu", implying becoming the source of a Fullbring rendered Hollow Dyan to nothing but minor reiatsu. Appearance The appearance Zangetsu takes on is unique for a Zanpakutō; completely resembling Dyan as if he was a mirror match, however, his colours are reversed. Therefore, Zangetsu has the appearance of a boy in his late teens, with white, spiky hair, white skin, and golden eyes with black sclera. He wears a Shinigami Shihakushō (死覇装; Garment of Dead Souls) matching Dyan's, however, it's colours are primarily white with black mixed in. The strap across his chest is black, and his boots, unlike Dyan's, are now white. Dyan said that Zangetsu originally took his appearance exactly, but due to the influence of his Fullbring, the Zanpakutō spirit was influenced greatly by the Hollow reiatsu. Personality Zangetsu is a calm, level-headed Zanpakutō, in stark contrast to his hot-tempered master; having a cooler temperament, he often acts as a mentor to Dyan and is constantly trying to push his master to become stronger; being rather strict in his teachings and a sadistic and punishing taskmaster, often referring to Dyan as "my stupid wielder," affectionately, and bringing up embarrassing incidents in Dyan's past to provoke him into training harder. Being absolutely composed, there is nearly nothing which can properly provoke Zangetsu into losing his temper, being solid and unmovable like a pivot. He also comes off as somewhat lazy, professing to have retrained Dyan to save himself the bother of teaching him the final attack; however, this is more of a subtle expression of his wielder's personality. He speaks only if necessary, but when he does he often says something important. He is a strict, no-nonsense warrior with a dry wit. As a Zanpakutō Spirit, Zangetsu devotes his life to protecting Dyan, putting the matters of his wielder before his own. Zangetsu's number one goal is that he wishes to see Dyan achieve his true potential and find out who is stronger; spirit or wielder. Synopsis Powers & Abilities Master Swordsman: 'Drawing on what Dyan himself knows, and using the knowledge he possesses as a Zanpakutō spirit, Zangetsu is a very efficient swordsman; obviously, this is due to being the Zanpakutō Spirit itself, and thus far more likely to trust himself more than any of his other abilities. When his Shikai state was that of a giant khyber knife, he was capable of effortlessly wielding the blade, even swinging it around by it's tassle as if it was a flail, predicting where it will strike. Due to possessing an innate skill that Dyan himself lacks, Zangetsu is capable of performing more versatile and effective maneuvers, and often strikes with quick and unrelenting force; though thanks to his natural calmness, he battles in a deductive and logical manner, analyzing the skills of his opponents and quickly thinking of a way to absolutely overwhelm them; all of this, via instinct. Due to being the Zanpakutō itself, Zangetsu does not know any techniques that require skilled movements; only relying on simple swings. *'Scythe Specialist: 'Due to his Zanpakutō form being that of a scythe, Zangetsu is extremely competent in wielding himself, slicing away at multiple opponents with blurring speed; and he is also able to spin the scythe with exemplary skill and power, and executes chain attacks often. He seems supremely confident in combat, immobilizing an enemy for a moment to calmly assess the battlefield and other enemies before destroying his current target. He also uses the weapon itself as a platform from which to attack, blasting opponents with his other abilities while standing on the tip of the scythe's blade. Zangetsu has superhuman mastery of the ability to leverage the scythe's ferocious kinetic energy to bolster his attacks, and his fighting style focuses on being aggressive, fast-paced and effective against single opponents, though weaker in prolonged combat and confined spaces, characterized by acrobatics, such as somersaults and leaping strikes, both for attack and defense, with Zangetsu unleashing fast, powerful strikes from multiple directions with his weapon. **'Ken'atsu (剣圧, Sword Pressure): Gripping his blade with both hands, Zangetsu unleashes an almighty slash, releasing a powerful blade of pressure that appears as faint ripples of wind at his foe at high speeds; this attack enables Zangetsu to assault things which are out of his sword's range, sending slashes which fly through the air itself; and can even remain floating in it until the right moment to slash. These blades of wind possess incredible range and devastating power; and Zangetsu has mastered this ability to the point that it can cut through barriers of spiritual energy. For one to reach the level of skill and power that Zangetsu utilizes this ability, they would have to train day and night, swinging their sword endlessly and fiercely until they could release absurdly sharp blades of air and miniature tornadoes—all from a simple swing of a sword. Hakuda Expert: '''Zangetsu is also proficient in Hand-To-Hand combat, capable of beating down several Shinigami with little no effort, and possesses great skill in dodging. His strikes come from the outside to the inside, the swinging arms changing direction using the elbow as the fulcrum to strike from impossible directions. He can easily strike the back of the head from a very close distance completely unbeknownst to the target. With his fighting style, he is capable of dealing a blow to the temple that would crush a man's skull. Even attacked from a blind spot, Zangetsu is able to block every attack using just his left arm as he has reached a certain state in his skills where he doesn't need eyesight to detect the movements of his target; he could predict the opponent's next move purely on the brief moment when his arm blocks that of his opponent, rendering attacks from his blind spot pointless. '''Immense Spiritual Power: '''Zangetsu, as the spirit of Dyan's Zanpakutō, has spiritual power that either matches, or even exceeds, his own wielder, Dyan once remarking there was quite a gap between their own powers; Zangetsu possessing the ability to easily beat Dyan in a one-on-one match with no issue. Unlike Dyan, Zangetsu's spirit energy is a bright red, and it is capable of physically interacting with his surroundings like any reiatsu, pummeling the things around him into dust. '''Enhanced Strength: Zangetsu, being a Zanpakutō Spirit, is much more powerful than his wielder, overpowering Dyan very easily on numerous occasions when the two spar within Dyan's inner world. His physical strength is much greater than Dyan's, able to send him flying through a building with a single unarmed strike, and he can thrust his Zanpakutō into or throw an opponent through a wall. The best demonstration of his physical power is that he can destroy a large portion of a skyscraper with the wake of a single slash of his sword; and channel this power to crush Dyan's own Getsuga Tenshō and force it to collapse before it even strikes him. He is able to lift a large portion of a rock with a single hand, and effortlessly throw it; the end result is similar to that of a small meteor striking the earth. Enhanced Speed: In addition to having greater raw strength, Zangetsu is noticeably craftier and more agile in his movements than Dyan. He can catch his blade in the air and attack before landing, and he can easily dodge a powerful projectile or a surprise attack and strike back as soon as possible. His attack patterns are generally harder to read and keep up with, allowing him to strike down his opponent easier. What should be noted that Zangetsu constantly moves at exceedingly fast speeds, appearing behind foes and countering them before they can even turn to face him; utilizing his immense speed to his advantage to down his foes before they can even react. Enhanced Durability: Unlike Dyan himself, Zangetsu is capable of recovering instantly after being launched into a building at high speeds; and he can deflect Dyan's Kuroi Getsuga Tenshō with a single unarmed hand. He can survive getting caught in the crossfire from all angles by several level 80 Kidō spells, and merely shrugs it off, and he can take a lot of major punishment in battle before he starts to wear down. Even after receiving major damage, Zangetsu displays a remarkably fast recovery rate from damage, allowing him to quickly re-enter a battle after just a few moments. Zanpakutō Zangetsu (懺月 Repentance Moon): Like all Zanpakutō spirits, Zangetsu is able to wield his own sword form in combat against both his master within the inner world, and physical opponents should he manifest. His own Shihakusho now resembles the sleeveless kosode worn by members of the Ninth Division of the Gotei 13. He has a thick strap across his chest, and instead of waraji and tabi, he wears white boots. In the original state of his Shikai form, the blade it was an elegant cleaver as tall as Dyan himself, and it later transformed into a mass of untamed reiatsu around his arm. Zangetsu now takes the form of a scythe, resembling a combination of Zangetsu and Dyan's Fullbring weapon. The pole to the scythe is a shade of white, and the scythe itself has a white blade with a black edge, though it has a noticeable blue tint. Like Dyan, Zangetsu expresses a preference to wield it's Shikai state, due to the form of the blade being designed to "slay". :Shikai Special Ability: In its Shikai form, Zangetsu is largely used for melee-combat, but it does possess two important abilities. Due to Dyan's enormous spiritual energy levels and slight inability to properly utilize them, Zangetsu's first ability is to serve as a fulcrum in which to assist Dyan in retaining control over his spiritual energy levels; taking the remnants of the energy that leaks out from his body and focuses them in his Zanpakutō; for Zangetsu himself, this gives him a sixth sense of sorts. The way in which this ability is utilized most of the time is to consume spiritual energy, condense it, which in turn amplifies its power, then releases it through the tip of the blade during an attack to release a wave of energy from which its main method of offense manifests. However, it has been shown that both Shinigami and Spirit can utilize this ability in a variety of methods, such as the ability to forcibly seal a wound that has been previously gushing blood, though there appears to be a limit to which this will work. And lastly, it can be used to produce multiple solid clones of the user, allowing them to outnumber their enemy and attack from multiple directions simultaneously. However, doing so appears to reduce the power of the Zanpakutō. *'Getsuga Tenshō' (月牙天衝 Moon Fang Heaven-Piercer): Being the originator of Dyan's Getsuga Tenshō; Zangetsu has an absolute mastery over the technique, with a power only matched by the Getsuga Tenshō that Dyan utilizes when in Bankai. At the instant of the slash, Zangetsu, absorbing Dyan's spiritual energy, focuses it at the tip of the weapon, gathering the energy in a tri-focused manner and condensing it to its utmost limit before swiftly releasing it, magnifying the slash attack, which flies forward at high speeds in the shape of a crescent arc. The colour of the Getsuga Tenshō released by Zangetsu is a vibrant emerald; vibrating as it moves, as to increase its power explosively. Getsuga Tenshō is a powerful technique with great force, capable of causing large scale damage. Zangetsu, as the originator of the technique, is well-versed in it's uses, deriving several other attacks from it that he taught to Dyan. Both users have used this technique in several different manners, such as striking the ground to create an omnidirectional blast to knock away incoming attacks or slashing at the ground to upturn it and crush everything in its path; and a single swing of the Getsuga Tenshō is more than enough to disperse an entire rainstorm; as well as demolish a large radius of the surroundings and leave behind a huge crater in the wake of the attack. After Dyan regained his Shinigami powers, Zangetsu's own abilities were boosted and his Getsuga Tenshō is noticeably larger and more powerful. **'Getsuga Soshaku' (月牙一口 Moon Fang Bite): Should a Getsuga that Zangetsu has used be deflected, he can use this ability to "influence" the remaining energy shards to bombard the opponent before they give out. The damage itself is not major, but Zangetsu can manipulate the remaining Getsuga energy in anyway he pleases. **'Shōgetsu' (障害月影, Impediment Moon) An new attack first displayed by Zangetsu during Dyan's Jinzen training and later learned by Dyan. When used, energy envelops the blade and Zangetsu swings it forward, unleashing a blast of energy that circles around the target when it hits, creating a round spiraling cage of red energy that traps the opponent. While easy to shatter from the outside, it is difficult to escape from the inside. ** Reitekketsu (霊鉄血, The Iron and Blood of the Spirit): By harnessing Zangetsu's ability to control its spiritual energy, the user can allow the spiritual energy stabilized by the Shikai to flow directly into their blood vessels once they have been wounded no matter how minor or grave, which then instills the ability of the Shikai into their bloodstream; the result of this is what allows this technique to forcibly seal a wound that has been previously gushing blood; patching up the wounds and enabling the user to return to top shape and thus fight at their best once more. Additionally, this technique can be utilized to boost them in combat; it can grant the user inhuman durability, but it is not absolute, and can be torn using sufficient power. Another use is to grant the user inhuman attack power, able to demolish small buildings with a single offensive movement. However, because Reitekketsu utilizes independent forms of the technique for attack and defense operate using two different Reishi systems, they cannot be employed simultaneously. **'Reifukuei' (霊複影, Spiritual Clones of Shadow): By harnessing Zangetsu's ability to control its spiritual energy, the user can momentarily allow the spiritual energy condensed to form duplicates of themselves; these clones are actual copies, not illusions. The user's spiritual energy is evenly distributed among every clone, giving each clone an equal fraction of the user's overall power; they are capable of performing techniques on their own and can even bleed, but will usually disperse after one powerful strike, but they will more often than not serve their purpose of providing a decent distraction, as well as allowing them to outnumber their enemy and attack from many a direction at the same time; however, due to the user's power being distributed evenly, it does reduce the attack power of the Zanpakutō. *'Bankai:' Gunryūren Zangetsu (軍竜連懺月, War Dragon's Link to the Repeatance Moon): is the name of Zangetsu's Bankai form. Zangetsu, after initiating Bankai, takes a form similar to a stereotypical grim reaper, however he is clothed in white. He wears a white shikahusho, with black, cross-like markings on his abdominal and forearm sections, with a black tassle of rope hanging from his shoulder, and bandages surrounding his arms. His hands also have unusual white stripes on them, and the shikahusho, like it was previously, is tattered and ragged at the ends. Zangetsu's eyes remain as they were, and Dyan himself gains these colours in Bankai, and he gains black markings on his face. Finally, his scythe is far larger, with circular like patterns at the blade of the scythe, where he is able to behead opponents if he wishes. : Bankai Special Ability: The power of Zangetsu eats up his spiritual energy, condenses it, which in turn amplifies its power, then releases it through the tip of the blade during an attack to release a wave of energy. Naturally, the Bankai is an extension of this ability, taking the concept to the highest degree that is attainable by a Shinigami; compressing all of his spiritual energy into his body, and not just his sword, allowing not even a speck to be released from his figure, drastically bolstering his abilities all across the board. No longer can he only fire the Getsuga as a simple wave of energy, but he is capable of manipulating it into an enormous variety of shapes and sizes; giving it numerous properties, essentially treating it as an extension of his own body. Unusually for a Shinigami's Bankai, the ability of Zangetsu's Bankai can be likened to an Arrancar's and how they compress their own spiritual pressure in order to stand as equals to the Shinigami. :* Ultra-Speed Combat: Zangetsu takes all the power of his Bankai and compresses it into an extremely small, hyper-condensed form. Then, he uses the power of the Bankai to perform astoundingly high-speed combat, moving at a speed faster than the human eye can comprehend. Even if someone could detect his trajectory, it is near impossible to catch him. Zangetsu's speed appears to create up to eight doubles of himself while in motion. These doubles are not illusory; he is moving at a speed between different positions that is faster than the speed of sound. As such, were all the doubles to attack at once, it would mean that Zangetsu is attacking from all those positions simultaneously, giving him incredible destructive power. Similarly, because of this same speed, attacking the doubles would be futile as Zangetsu would have moved long before the attack even reaches him. Zangetsu also becomes fast enough to outrun his own Getsuga Tenshō, allowing him to strike and enhance them or launch simultaneous attacks at the opponent from various angles. Unlike Dyan himself, Zangetsu has no limits to the speed he can reach. :*'Kuroi Getsuga Tenshō' (黒月牙天衝, Black Moon Fang Heaven-Piercer): When in Bankai, Zangetsu automatically retains the use of Getsuga Tenshō and can be used in the same manners, but as an enhanced form, causing them to become black with a green outline, their path can be controlled through telekinetic thoughts, and they possess explosively augmented power and speed. What should be noted that this variation of Getsuga Tenshō has three small spheres orbiting around it, in a similar manner to moons around a planet. When coming into contact with a target, the disordered rotations of the individual attack, created by the central and smaller ones spinning in different directions, interact with each other to form a massive and turbulent wave-like vortex that demolishes everything that it comes into contact with. This iteration of the Getsuga Tenshō is a spiritual energy collection attack and thus becomes far more powerful the later it's used. It is most useful when activated towards the end of a battle between high-level opponents, since the area will be saturated with excess energy from their attacks. It is a recycling of the spiritual particles just used and spread over the battlefield. Therefore, even though Zangetsu has been exhausted from spiritual energy, the ability can still be invoked. Lastly, Zangetsu's tremendous speed in Bankai enables him to move faster than the Getsuga Tenshō itself, allowing him to fire a multitude of blasts from varying directions in order to overwhelm his opponent. Zangetsu can also keep Getsuga Tenshō within Gunryūren Zangetsu to augment his scythe swings. :**'Getsurame' (黒月影雨 Black Moon Rain): Usable only in Bankai, Zangetsu slashes his blade up at the sky, releasing a large blast of black needle-like rods of energy into the sky. Swinging his blade down, the rods rain down on the opponent, piercing them in various places. Zangetsu can create a maximum of 100 of these, and has limited control over them. The less he creates, the easier they are to control. :**'Kujogetsu' (駆除月影 Extermination Moon): Zangetsu fires a massive amount of reiatsu into the air and it forms a large, floating orb of Getsuga Reiatsu, similar in appearance to a large, full moon. Calling out the attack's name. he swing's his blade down. The orb immediately bursts, splitting into multiple light green "meteors" which rain down onto the opponent. These meteors seem to "home in" on Zangetsu's target, and cease only when the blast(s) hit something else. :**'Meigetsu' (名月 Harvest Moon): A defensive Getsuga technique, Zangetsu releases a compressed Getsuga Tenshō to collide with an oncoming offensive attack, be it spiritual or physical, and it provides a solid, protective barrier that is difficult to break for anyone under Zangetsu's own level of power. The shield, despite being powerful, is not long-lasting, as Getsuga Tenshō is not meant to be an attack that defends, but rather a technique with high offensive properties. Zangetsu found a variant use for this technique however, a non-lethal attack, one that can be both a distraction or a way to incapacitate opponents that need to be taken alive, by simply releasing the shield at close range, using it as a solid method of attack. :*'Getenyōgōryū' (月天来擁護竜, The Heavenly Dragon of Vindication basking in the Moonlight): When performing this technique, Zangetsu transfers his reiryoku to the tip of his weapon, intensifying it by the compression of power gained in Bankai, which turns the reiryoku stored in the weapon pitch-black and emerald in texture. The fusion of the reishi that creates the Bankai and the reiryoku gathered causes a reaction akin to nuclear fission; this causes the combined energies to spew forth from the weapon, released in the form of a black and emerald stream which is then hardened and properly shaped into the form of a large serpentine Chinese dragon with enormous fangs and shining green eyes with two giant wings—it's entire color is black, with several emerald shades; it has green-tipped, rudder-like wings on its shoulders and down its body, and similarly-patterned fins on the tip of its tail; the whole dragon is completely composed of the union of the dual energies. Despite being borne from Zangetsu, it is difficult to control, unless Zangetsu absorbs it and traps it within his own reiatsu. Because it composed entirely of black, demonic pure reiatsu, it completely consumes all it devours, as by attacking numerous structures and opponents, it is able to burn straight through them just by sheer force. In addition, Zangetsu can force the dragon to swirl around him, protecting him from most forms of damage; spinning around at such a speed that it forms a protective dome. :*'Tsukikage' (月影, Moonglade): A highly powerful technique; upon activation, Tsukikage causes Zangetsu's eyes to glow an ominous emerald; and by gripping his scythe, it begins to glow green. Momentarily, this state gives him enhanced strength. The moment that an opposing attack touches his Zanpakutō, the power of Tsukikage allows Zangetsu to absorb the opposing attack through the tip of the scythe via the cold steel, converting it into a harmless force via slowing the spiritual particles of the blow and allowing Zangetsu's tip to consume it, focusing it into the tip instantly, bolstering the power of Zangetsu's next technique enormously. That which he can absorb are nearly any type of spiritual-based projectile, and even some naturally made projectiles; as long as it has spiritual particles, he can use it to boost his next attack. Once Zangetsu has absorbed the attack, Zangetsu's glow even brighter, which strengthens and accelerates the attack faster than it was originally fired, while adding his own attack into the mixture, making it much more difficult for the opponent to dodge. From there, he swings his scythe forward violently, unleashing a swift slash of imaginable power which is able to ignore many a defense and effect. A single direct hit is often enough to force opponents to exhaust their own spiritual energy completely in an attempt to cushion the blow, effectively rendering them drained. When he slashes outwards using this ability, green rose petals are shown floating in the air, as the foe is assaulted by the violent attack. "Moonglade" is a poetic term for the bright reflection of moonlight on water. Trivia *After a bit of thinking, the spirit of the Zangetsu Dyan wields was decided to resemble Dyan himself (and therefore, Hollow Ichigo) for two reasons. The first is that Rasenhiden, Dyan's new canon, is completely separate from the original canon, Ichigo does not, and never will, exist in it, and as such, Zangetsu is now solely Dyan's. Secondly, Zangetsu is named after the moon, which reflects sunlight and is often mentioned in folktales as a reflection upon the water. Therefore, Dyan's Zanpakutō spirit is a literal reflection of himself. *The Zangetsu in canon expresses an interest in Ichigo's inner world becoming a more natural surroundings, with lush green forests, animals, etc. Oddly, Dyan's inner world is exactly this, however, this wasn't intentional, Darkrai simply loves a forest setting. Quotes (To Dyan) "Is this it for you Dyan? Have you really lost your will to fight? Do you intend to die here?"